Anthony Braxton: a solo performance by the NEA Jazz Master and AACM founding memberSun Ra Arkestra: the legendary Philadelphia ensemble performs “Space is the Place” in its entiretyThe Art Ensemble of Chicago: a rare appearance from the influential ensemble that recently celebrated its 50th anniversarySo Percussion: this award-winning percussion quartet has worked with Steve Reich and Bang on a CanCortex: an extremely rare stateside appearance by this “high-velocity” (Chicago Reader) Norwegian jazz quartetKaruna: a longstanding duo featuring Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph with special guest and Eternal Wind member Ralph Miles Jones IIIJohn Luther Adams: a performance of the Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winning artist’s “Across the Distance” featuring members of Orchestra 2001Claire Chase: MacArthur Fellow, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) founder, and “young star of the modern flute” (The New Yorker)Zeena Parkins / Brian Chase Duo: a new duo featuring the acclaimed harpist and drummer best known for collaborations with Bjork and the Yeah Yeah YeahsTim Berne’s Snakeoil: performing material from their upcoming ECM releaseDavid Torn’s Sun of Goldfinger: the guitar virtuoso, best known for his work with David Bowie, hits the stage with Tim Berne and Ches SmithMike Reed’s Flesh & Bone: the drummer’s all-star Chicago septet debuts a composition reflecting on race and identity in the changing Western worldBallister: the explosive trio of Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Paal Nilssen-Love

Ars Nova Workshop (ANW) is excited to announce a new partnership with the Ardmore Music Hall (AMH), enabling the two entities to present the biggest names in contemporary jazz to audiences in and outside of Philadelphia. The partnership kicks off with three performances featuring some of the most impressive names in modern jazz, including icons such as Bill Frisell, Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, and John Medeski, as well as the final Philadelphia-area performance of The Bad Plus’ original line-up. All of these not-to-be-missed performances spotlight boundary-stretching artists who bring together the sounds of contemporary jazz with classic rock, folk, country and other influences that fit well with the mission and history of the Ardmore Music Hall.

The Ardmore Music Hall has quickly established itself as a premiere landing spot for many renowned, local, and national touring musical acts. Due to its geographic location on the Main Line and a calendar full of a diverse range of artists, AMH draws from virtually every demographic group in the Greater Philadelphia area. The room holds as much history as any local venue in Philadelphia or the surrounding suburbs; and, since 2013, Ardmore Music Hall has hosted artists the likes of George Clinton & P-Funk, Maceo Parker, Bad Brains’ HR, Victor Wooten, Snarky Puppy, Rebirth Brass Band, Adrian Belew, the Sun Ra Arkestra, members of the Grateful Dead and Phish, Digable Planets, and many more.

“For years, Ars Nova has sought to expand our programming to assure that our modern jazz heroes and legacy artists have a stable and accommodating environment that elevates and respects their extraordinary work,” says ANW founder and Artistic Director Mark Christman, “and we couldn’t be more excited about partnering with Ardmore Music Hall, who shares our commitment and passion.”

"It's a thrill for us to more aggressively pursue some of the greatest jazz icons in the world, knowing that we've got a partner in Ars Nova. They will not only be instrumental in reaching core jazz fanatics in the Philly area but will also bring years of event production expertise and great contributions to the overall fan and musician experiences for these events. To kick off the partnership with Bill Frisell, John Medeski, John Scofield and Jack DeJohnette among others, will be a wonderful honor for Ardmore and a terrific personal reward for us the fans,” add Chris Perella, Talent Buyer and Co-Owner of Ardmore Music Hall.

The new partnership will launch on Saturday, September 16 with iconic guitarist Bill Frisell’s new quartet Harmony, featuring vocalist Petra Haden, cellist Hank Roberts and bassist Luke Bergman. A sprawling and evocative trip through the landscape of American music of the last century, Harmony is a new group that continues Frisell’s career-long exploration of the breadth and scope of American music. Drawing on influences from folk, bluegrass and country as well as jazz, Harmony brings together collaborators from throughout Frisell’s notable career: vocalist Petra Haden, who has performed extensively in duos with the guitarist as well as on his movie-music tribute When You Wish Upon a Star; Roberts, whose association with Frisell spans three decades, dating back to the 1987 ECM release Lookout for Hope; and Bergman, a fellow member of the University of Washington Jazz Studies faculty and member of the Cuong Vu Group, which has recorded with Frisell.

On Wednesday, October 11, ANW and AMH will present the Philadelphia debut of HUDSON, the new supergroup featuring Hudson River Valley residents Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Medeski and Larry Grenadier. The awe-inspiring new quartet brings together four of the world’s most influential musicians—known for their work with Miles Davis, Medeski Martin & Wood, Brad Mehldau and so many others, and all of whom have chosen to call the Valley home, with inspiration from the region’s cultural, musical and environmental history. The group’s extraordinary self-titled debut strikingly captures the atmosphere and beauty of the region while celebrating the indelible music that has emerged from it, mixing original music stamped with the Valley’s rejuvenating essence with thrilling renditions of world-famous songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and The Band’s Robbie Robertson, Hudson has created an album as spectacular and breathtaking as the area itself.

A number of exciting additional ANW and AMH co-presentations are already in the works.

In advance of the Sun Ra Arkestra's annual Halloween performance, Ars Nova Workshop asked guitarist Nick Millevoi to interview Arkestra guitarist DM Hotep. These two Philadelphia-bassed axe-slingers discussed Hotep's time in the Arkestra and how that has shaped his musical life.

The Sun Ra Arkestra performs at Johnny Brenda's this Monday, Halloween, at 8 pm. Millevoi's band, Desertion Trio, will be featured on the Ars Nova calendar later in the season, performing alongside Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver, also at Johnny Brenda's, on December 11.

Guitarist DM Hotep has been a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra as long as I've been going to see the band play. As a guitar player myself, I've always been intrigued by his unique approach. Using his guitar as aMIDI controller with a stereo amp setup, Hotep seems capable of conjuring any sort of sound out of his guitar from one moment to the next. In a band full of horns, he's an understated presence, often near theback of the bandstand, humbly ripping a hole in the cosmos and contributing doses of sci-fi sonics to the ensemble.

We recently started collaborating in visual artist Erik Ruin's band, Ominous Cloud, and I continue to be enthralled by Hoteps ability to channel the unexpected. We had yet to have a good hang where we talkedabout the Arkestra and his experience with the group, so I decided to document the conversation. -Nick Millevoi

How did you end up being the guitarist in the Sun Ra Arkestra?

It was the right person at the right moment at the right space and the right time, you know? It was pretty much that kind of situation.

I got to know the avant garde musicians in Philadelphia through [vibraphonist] Khan Jamal. Khan Jamal, like in the mid-90s/late-90s, he had an organization called Jazz Composer's Forum and it was a biggroup of musicians who were a little on the avant garde side just looking to workshop their pieces for large ensembles.

I guess I got to know Tyrone Hill [through the Jazz Composer's Forum]. Tyrone Hill was in it and I auditioned for the string section for the Arkestra's big new millennium concert at the Painted Bride. I wasn'tinitially gonna audition because they were looking for a string section. My girlfriend was like, “You play strings,” and I was like, “Guitar doesn't really count,” and she was like, “It's strings right?” So I ended upgetting in the rhythm section and the guys became aware of me. Then, a couple of years later, they needed a guitarist in the band. Charlie Ellerbee was there and I guess he decided he was gonna go in adifferent direction and they needed an emergency guitarist and called me.

Ars Nova Workshop is proud to announce the British Contemporary Music Festival, a two-day celebration of Britain’s extraordinary contributions to jazz and contemporary music.Presented in conjunction with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the UK’s largest international festival of new and experimental music, the festival presents compositions and performances by some of the leading pioneers of free improvisation and avant-garde composition in the UK. Renowned saxophonist/composer John Butcher will present a scintillating evening-length composition inspired in part by classical Arabic and Sufi music, while the compositional achievements of ground-breaking free improvisers Derek Bailey and Paul Rutherford, many of them world or US premieres, will be realized by a remarkable ensemble of creative musicians from the UK and Philadelphia.On Friday, June 24 at FringeArts, the festival kicks off with an evening of compositions by guitarist/composer Derek Bailey and trombonist/composer Paul Rutherford, two of the artists who helped lay the foundation for European free improvisation beginning in the 1960s. The program includes the US premiere of Bailey’s realization of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Plus-Minus;” the world premiere of “Ping,” Bailey’s transliteration of the titular Samuel Beckett play, and a trio of solo guitar compositions; and the world premiere of a new version of Rutherford’s piece “Quasi-Mode” for 12 players.

Bailey co-founded Incus, the first musician-owned independent record label in the UK, with Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and Michael Walters, while his long-running Company Week festival convened a wide range of improvisers annually for nearly 20 years. Rutherford met drummer John Stevens and saxophonist Trevor Watts in 1958, laying the foundation for European free improvisation through the trio’s experiments with American jazz. He was a member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Barry Guy’s London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, Globe Unity Orchestra and Keith Tippett’s Centipede, and founded the group Iskra 1903, originally with Barry Guy and Derek Bailey.On Saturday, June 25 at the Phialdelphia Art Alliance, the festival concludes with saxophonist/composer John Butcher and percussionist Mark Sanders performing Butcher’s hour-long composition Tarab Cuts, which was shortlisted as one of the Best Contemporary Jazz Compositions of the Year in the 2014 British Composer Awards. The concept of “tarab” stems from Arabic classical music and refers to a state of musical ecstasy, a melding of music and emotional transformation.Butcher earned his PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Surrey in England before turning his full attention to music. He’s since become a vital and prolific contributor to the British contemporary music scene, both as a renowned improviser and composer. He’s well known for his solo work, often employing multitrack effects, extended techniques, and acoustic explorations of his environs. A regular duo partner with Butcher, percussionist Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians including Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Peter Brotzmann, Otomo Yoshihide and William Parker.

Ars Nova Workshop is a Philadelphia nonprofit jazz and experimental music presenting organization. ANW informs, inspires, and challenges listeners to elevate the role of jazz, improvisation, and experimental music in contemporary culture. ANW events provide a forum for discourse, emergent trends in contemporary music, and unique forms of cultural exchange, while nurturing a diverse community for innovative music.